Breaking Ground



       

 

 

This was the first piece that I had begun work on this semester. It began with intentions to become an outdoor sculpture. However, it has resulted in a fairly large indoor piece in progress. The piece is called Breaking Ground and is based upon progress and moving forward with a new transition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  



 An acetylene-oxygen torch was used to bend and twist 3/8" steel rods. I knew I wanted the piece to make a very large impact and have somewhat of an "electric" feel to it. I began the piece by not restricting myself to any sort of particular shape or form to aim for. I just started bending rods in ways that I enjoyed or felt were interesting.


 As the piece progressed and increased in size, I realized that I needed to form some sort of a plan as to what type of shape this piece was going to take. I drew a couple of quick sketches until I felt happy with a particular form.

 Since my original intentions were for the piece to be an outdoor installation, I had a 3' 6" long steel tube that was buried outside for the base of the sculpture to rest in. However...I installed the piece the night before a snow storm hit campus. The 60mph winds from the storm literally bent my entire piece to one direction.


This brought me to thinking...

I decided to attempt to modify the piece to become an indoor sculpture instead.

After cutting off the 42" base of the sculpture and bringing it inside, the scale of the sculpture was very enjoyable for me. It stands at over 8' tall and protrudes over 4' into the space.  I am extremely satisfied with the visual impact that the size of sculpture has and enjoy the negative space that surrounds the piece.

I still need to form a type of base for my Breaking Ground piece, and am looking forward to exploring possible options.